Photographer Janet Jensen and I will head to Victoria Saturday morning to tell you what our B.C. friends’ festival is like.

You can think of me as your Port of the Year semi-secret agent.

I want to see what those Victorians are up to in terms of pampering crews, so we can outdo them.

Crews in the 2005 Tall Ships Challenge liked us best. When the American Sail Training Association asked them to vote for the friendliest, most fun port they’d visited, they chose Tacoma.

I’d like to see us win again. You can’t be too nice to the people who are sailing these glorious ships into Commencement Bay. And Port of the Year is a honor that can translate into tourism mojo.

We’ve had a chance to chat with some of the cadets and crew aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Barque Eagle, and they asked me to ask you what they should do and see, and where they should eat while they’re here.

There are about 150 cadets and 50-some crew and officers, so we are talking 200 guests to our waterfront from that ship alone.

Got a favorite spot? A pizza bargain? A good place to get a pedicure? Push the comment button on this post, and tell us your recommendations. The cadets are not yet 21, and they may not be big spenders, so keep that in mind. The crew members are mostly 21 and older and eager to explore the best of Tacoma.

We’ll be sailing down aboard Eagle, so we’ll have plenty of opportunity to share your suggestions with America's Tall Ship's sailors.

We’ll invite Eagle’s sailors to log on with their specific queries, too, so check back. You might have just the info they want.

Word is in from America’s Privateer Lynx that there are still spots available on the Baltimore clipper’s transit south from Victoria.

For $150, you can sail from Port Townsend to Quartermaster Harbor, a trip that will take you dashing through Elliott Bay. Nimble raider that she is, Lynx last made that journey firing her carronades at tourists along Seattle’s waterfront.

For $150 you can board in Quartermaster Harbor on Vashon Island and return home as part of the Parade of Sail. Again, there will be cannon fire. Add to that the thrill of seeing the celebration from the deck of one of the parade’s stars.

Once the festival’s over, Lynx has berths for the sail north to Port Alberni, B.C., July 8-12. For $700, you’ll sleep in a curtained compartment in the main cabin, take your meals with the crew and learn about modern life aboard historic ships.

Lynx will hit the open ocean on the sail back down the coast to San Francisco July 13-18. You can test your sea legs on that voyage for $1,000.

Call me biased, because I sailed from Victoria to Tacoma aboard Lynx three years ago. And I’m from Baltimore, where Fells Point shipwrights built the original Lynx to harass British shipping during the War of 1812. So give me a choice between cruising on Lynx or a modern liner, and I’ll go for patriotic piracy true to our maritime heritage.

Interested? Log onto www.privateerlynx.org to learn about the ship. Then call Cindy Buffa of the Lynx Educational Foundation at 1-866-446-5969.

The Schooner Adventuress is on its way after passing Coast Guard inspection Tuesday, according to the Peninsula Daily News.

Here's the top of The Daily News story:

Twenty-nine hours after the schooner Adventuress went aground Monday in the San Juan Islands, tension turned to joy and relief when a U.S. Coast Guard inspector emerged late Tuesday afternoon with good news.

"Just a little ding," Steve Carlson told an elated Catherine Collins, executive director of Sound Experience, who embraced him for clearing the vessel so it could sail on to the Victoria and Tacoma tall ship festivals.

Read more here.